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cutaepatootie · 7 years ago

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In search of the Aurora Borealis - 01

Pairing: Taehyung | Reader

Word Count: 23.1k

Genre: WildlingTaehyungAU, Angst

Summary: In which a young Princess of Greyria has to exchange her freedom for the sake of her kingdom, and marry a quiet and mysterious wildling whose eyes were made for contemplating the Aurora Borealis.

Pt. 01 | Pt. 02 | Tales of Greyria

"Nan! Nan!" the young girl shouted, running towards her grandmother through the tall grass.

"Oh, I think it's time to cut this grass," the old woman said, seeing his granddaughter almost completely hidden by the grass.

"Nan," the girl was out of breath when she arrived to where her grandmother was ploughing the land, preparing it for her small vegetable patch.

"What's wrong, love?" the old woman said, taking off his gloves and focusing all her attention on the young girl.

"Nothing Nan, " she said. "I... Well, I finished my tasks and I was wondering..."

The girl suddenly became shy. After that story her grandmother had told her, she wanted to know what had happened to Greyria. She hadn't stopped thinking about it since then, and she couldn't stop dreaming about those green fields and that magnificent castle her grandmother had described to her. She could sometimes even smell the freshly baked bread or hear the sound of the waves, at that secret beach.

"Mhm?" he grandmother hummed, taking a seat on the bench that was under the shadow of the huge oak tree. The girl sat next to her grandmother.

"I was wondering if you could continue telling me the story of Greyria," she finally gathered the courage to say those words out loud. She had been wanting to ask her Nan that ever since she told her the story, but the woman had been too busy preparing the harvest.

"I am taking care of the vegetable patch right now, love," the woman said, a small smile drawn on her lips. She knew her granddaughter had been thinking about the story she had told her all week, she seemed a bit absent. "How about tomorrow?"

"Oh, Nan," the girl pouted. She felt impatient, she had already waited too long. "I can help you with this tomorrow, but tell me another story, please."

"Sweetie..." the old woman said, looking at her vegetable patch.

"I swear I will help you Nan," she repeated, turning around to catch her Nan's attention. "Please, please, please..."

Finally, the woman smiled looking at the young girl. "All right..."

"Great!" the girl clapped happily.

"But put on your hat," she said, taking the hat off the girl's hands and placing it over her head. "It's too hot here and your mother will kill me if you end up ill."

"Okay, but now, please, tell me the story," the girl said eagerly, not even caring about the hat.

The woman adjusted herself on the bench, her smile still drawn over her lips as her eyes travelled through the horizon. As the first words slipped past her lips, a whole new world appeared in front of them, both immersing themselves in it. And that new world, was made of cliffs, a gigantic forest, a beautiful castle and fields of green grass and wheat.

They returned to Greyria.

Cold.

It was all that could be felt in Greyria that Winter.

Cold.

It was all that could be felt in Greyria after the war, the War of the Red Rose.

The wind didn't caress your skin anymore, it hit it hard, without any care or affection. The fields were covered in snow, in frost. The wheat wasn't dancing to the compass of the sea breeze anymore. There were no flowers, no daisies, no lilies, no roses. There were no flowers in Greyria, no flowers in the empty gardens of the castle. The village was almost isolated, and you would think no one lived there, if it weren't for the smell of freshly baked bread that seeped under the door of the bakery each morning.

Twenty years had passed since the start of the war, and eighteen since the end of it.

Many Greyrians had died in the battle, and many more had died because of the epidemic of pester that had devastated the continent during the war. The villagers that had survived, got to rise the economy of Greyria again after the war, the fields being productive as ever and the stockbreeders working harder than ever. With the help of Rowenhall, who had lost many men too, Greyria had survived.

Navia had lost the war, mostly because the pester hit there the hardest. Since then, no one had heard from that magnificent kingdom ever again. Tales told, that a dark power had been casted all over the place.

Eighteen years later, Greyria was alive again, it was keeping on going. But eighteen years later, Greyria was cold.

It was not an usual cold. No, you couldn't escape from it, not even putting on as many clothes, cloaks and furs as you could. Not even if you touched a torch or a bonfire.

It was a freezing cold. One that seeped through your bones and left your blood cold. One that numbed your limbs and senses. A freezing cold that was similar to the one you had been feeling inside, since two months prior.

"Can't we do something else?" your mother had pleaded.

You had been walking down the corridor when you heard voices coming from your parent's bedroom. The door was halfway closed and you couldn't resist hearing what they were talking about: you. You quietly opened it a bit more so you could look what was happening inside their room.

"I tried, Elenne," you could hear the muffled voice of your father, he was sitting on the edge of the bed, his face hidden behind his hands. He wasn't happy either about your situation. "But is the only option we have if we want to save Greyria."

"I thought Greyria was already safe after winning the war!" your mother raised her voice, already losing her patience.

Hearing your mother's voice, he lifted his face and looked at her, he had a mixture of anger and desperation in his eyes.

"And I thought you understood how this kind of things work after what happened to your sister!" your father shouted, making your eyes and your mother's go wide. Your aunt had always been a forbidden topic in the whole kingdom, you had barely heard about her a couple of times, that being one of those.

"Don't bring my sister in this!" your mother responded, raising her voice even more and taking a step back as if she had been terribly offended by your father's words.

"So, you didn't discuss your sister marrying a man she didn't love but you discuss your daughter doing so..." your father's voice was laced with venom.

You knew your mother didn't marry your father because of love, and neither did he. They didn't love each other, but they had always respected each other. Your father was speaking out of anger, just to despise your mother in the argument. He wasn't a bad man, he just lost his temper when he was angry.

"My sister was going to marry a Prince... You are going to get our daughter married with a wildling," your mother's voice sounded dangerous, and hearing the word "wildling" made your stomach turn upside down. Marrying you with a what?! In that moment you swore your heart would explode from how fast it was beating.

Finally, you saw your father relax and heard him sigh. His expression wasn't one of anger anymore, leaving place to desperation.

"I know..." he said, standing up from the bed and hugging your mother. She returned back the hug, both holding each other strongly. "I know... I don't want this either, it's our youngest daughter. I swore to God I would protect her until the end of my days when she was born, and now I'm failing my promise."

You could see your mother holding your father tightly. You knew your parents loved you... Then, why did they decide to sell you to a wildling as his wife?

"He will take her with him and we'll never see her again, Robert," your mother cried. "She's our little girl, how can we do this to her? How can we exchange her for the sake of our kingdom?"

"It's our only option, love," he whispered. You leaned further onto the door because they were starting to whisper to each other. "We have been under their menace for years, and now that they are stronger than ever we can't keep ignoring them."

"Can't we offer them something that isn't our daughter?" your mother backed away, breaking the hug after hearing your father's words.

How could he say he loved you and then exchange you to a wildling? You had heard stories about the wildlings and they weren't exactly those kind of stories mother's told their children. They were savage, they were murderers. They loved war and destruction. They loved the cold and icy North.

"What?" your father sighed. "What can we offer to them? We have nothing, nothing that they want beside our lands."

"Well, give them their goddamn lands! I don't care about lands, we can go back to Stormhouse and live there with your family. But we will keep our daughter!" the woman said, trying to search for her husband's glance.

"If we give them Greyria, we'll give them the whole continent. This kingdom is their entrance to invading the whole continent. Do you want that?" he hissed.

"Do you want our child married to a wild man? Being the mother of those savage children?" she nearly shouted again.

Your father ran out of patience again. "Of course I don't want that, it isn't an easy decision for me either! But I don't want those wildlings burning our house, raping our other daughters or you!" he shouted. "I don't want them here! Look Elenne, your father died in the war, and so did your brother, the heir of this kingdom. We were the only ones left here to look after Greyria, since your mother is in no condition of reigning. Our eldest daughter will be queen some day, and I want that for her, I want her to have the best. And Amelia too, and Y/N."

"Yeah, Y/N will have the best of lives next to that wildling," your mother huffed.

"He is young, he is looking for a wife to have his heirs..." your father said, making your stomach churn again. You didn't want to be the mother of any wildling, nor the wife. "I don't think he will mistreat her."

"And why does a savage like him want a princess as his wife?" your mother asked, concern in her voice. "Maybe he is tricking us."

At that point you were on the verge of tears. You were going to be exchanged for the safety of your kingdom and the whole continent. You were going to get married with a wildling, be his wife, be the mother of his children, you were basically going to be his slave. And you had had no word in that decision.

"We can't know that," he exhaled. "We will have to take the risk."

After hearing your father's words, you couldn't contain yourself anymore.

"You are going to marry me to a wildling?!" you nearly shouted, opening the door to their bedroom abruptly, making them both jump on their spots.

Hot, angry tears were falling down your cheeks and landing on your night gown. You had never spoken like that to your parents, you had never dare to raise your voice. You had always been a good polite girl, taking your piano, reading and protocol lessons. You had always enjoyed being in the castle, reading a book or just staring through the window, towards the infinite sea you had never, in your eighteen years old, touched. Your sisters called you boring, you preferred calling yourself tranquil. But hearing your parents deciding about your future without your consent.

"Y/N..." your mother said. She lifted her hands up to her chest, her eyes wide with fear. Hot tears were straining her cheeks too, but hers weren't angry, they were sad.

You father, on the other hand, was still on his spot, impassible, contemplating you both.

"Are you really going to sell me to a wildling as if I was stock?" you said, this time looking at your father. "Father..."

"Y/N, lower your voice, you are going to wake up the entire castle," your father hissed.

"Mother..." you pleaded, looking desperately towards your mother. She just shook her head, tears rolling faster down her cheeks.

"I already told your father I don't want you to marry a wildling," she whispered.

"I don't want you to marry a wildling either," your father said.

"Then don't marry me to a wildling," you pleaded, your hands still grasping the door strongly.

"Is the only option we have left..." he said again, this time sounding a bit defeated.

"When?" you suddenly asked, knowing that you weren't going to hear anything from him that you hadn't already heard. "When are you going to sell me to that wildling?"

"Don't say it like that, I'm not selling you-" he began to say.

"It's the same, you are exchanging me, selling me, marrying me... They all mean the same," you said, making both of your parents gasp in surprise at the harshness of your tone. You definitely had never spoken like that, much less to your parents.

"In winter," your father said, looking at the floor.

"And when were you going to tell me?" you said, raising your voice again. "There's only two months for winter to arrive!"

"We wanted to find the right time," your mother said, walking towards you, but you raised your hand, signalling her to stop.

"Don't come near me," you hissed.

"Y/N, don't speak like that to your mother," your father said in a stern voice.

You suddenly became impassive, looking at them with a cold expression.

"You're right, I won't speak to you ever again like that. I am sorry," you said, looking at them both. "But don't expect me to talk to you in any other way either."

"Y/N!" your mother called after you, but you ignored her.

"Shh..." you heard your father's voice calming your mother. "She needs time to think and to soak it in, she will be fine in the end."

But you weren't fine, you were just cold.

And here you were, cold, bathing in cold water in your cold bathroom, two months after that. You had replayed in your head the words you had overheard that night, but that didn't make you feel any better, if not, it made you feel worst. Just like the water, it didn't make you feel any less, like the cold water was supposed to do. Instead, it blended with the coldness of your skin, making you feel everything ten times more.

And here you were, cold, bathing in cold water in your cold bathroom, getting ready to meet him, your future husband.

He and his entourage of wildlings had arrived that morning to Greyria's coast on one of his enormous ships, but you hadn't seen them, since you hadn't dared to go out of your room. Nevertheless, you knew they were in the castle, for all the maids and servants were running from place to place following your father's orders and scared to death from the wildlings.

"Milady, are you ready?" your maid knocked on the door.

"Yes," you whispered, so low you thought the young maid hadn't even heard you.

But she had. She opened the door of your bathroom slowly and entered with a few towels on her hands.

"Milady!"she exclaimed as she touched the water you were in. "It is freezing cold! You must be shivering!"

She helped you get out of the bathtub and wrapped your body in a couple of white towels. You welcomed the warmth for a moment, but only for a moment.

"Are you ready to meet your future husband, milady?" the maid said as she dressed you in one of your best winter dresses. You have to look good for your husband - your father had said.

The fake happy tone of your maid infuriated you. She knew you were going to marry to a wildling, so why would she be happy for you? Or expect you to be happy? She was just as scared as everyone was, but not as scared as you.

Putting on the heavy dress or letting your maids style your hair wasn't the worst part of it all, the worst part was the way down the stairs and into the main hall where everyone was waiting for you. It felt as if every step you took, was the step that would carry you to your miserable fate.

The main hall was almost full, and there were no more than forty people counting your own family and closest relatives. It was almost full because each wildling was so wide and big that they counted as two normal people.

They seemed rude and rough, with their long beards and dark hair. With their fur clothes and their massive swords and axes that hung from their backs. There were women too, but they were just as big and rough as the rest of the men, and despite that, they were all beautiful with long untamed hair and pale skin. They made you feel small and insignificant next to them, and you wondered why on earth, would a wildling like that - who could have any of those women he wanted - want to marry a simple princess like you.

Everyone silenced at your entrance, all eyes on you.

You shifted uncomfortably on your spot, your dark dress suddenly seeming too thick compared to the thick fur the wild women were wearing, that only covered the main parts of their bodies.

Your father was by your side, his hand on the small of your back. Your mother was with your two other sisters behind you and you could see your grandmother at the end of the hall, already seated on her chair.

Even the musicians stopped playing their music as three wildlings stood up from the main table. You looked at them knowing that your future husband was one of them.

The one on the left was the tallest. He had a thick, red beard. He looked the eldest of the three men, but you guessed it was because of the beard. His cold, dark eyes examined you from head to toe, giving you the impression that he was going to be him. And then you looked at the one in the middle. He was tall too, but nothing compared to the red-haired man. He looked young, with no beard and his curly hair styled in a long braid. His eyes were examining you, they were a cold blue colour, one, that made you feel even more cold. Lastly, your eyes landed on the third men.

He didn't even look like a wildling. He was tall, but not as tall as the other two men, and his body even seemed small compared the other's. But he wasn't small at all as you observed when he approached you. Despite his rude expression, he was beautiful. With sharp, black eyes and a soft face, plump lips drawn in a heart-shaped form and round nose. His eyes observed you as much as yours observed him, his brows furrowed in a strange expression. His hair was short, his chestnut bangs fell on his eyes, shadowing his eyes. And, in spite of his beauty and soft features, looking at him made a shiver run down your spine.

Because you knew it. You knew it was him.

"She is Y/N, my youngest daughter," your father said, speaking towards the younger man. The soft tone your father used when he spoke to that man didn't go unnoticed to you. He feared that man, which meant you should fear him too. "And he is Kim Taehyung, the leader of the wildlings in the north."

The man looked at you and after examining you from head to toe, gave an approving nod. It made your blood boil in your veins.

"She is beautiful," he simply said in a thick northern accent. A shiver ran down your spine again at his words.

"Yes, she really is," your father repeated, looking at you with a sorrowful expression. He was going to hand over his beautiful, delicate, youngest daughter to those men.

"She seems..." Taehyung spoke again. He was looking at you as if you were a piece of stock, and somehow you felt like one. "Fragile."

His words got you even angrier, but you only stood there, feeling shame and humiliation as everyone observed you.

"Well, she is a delicate woman," your mother spoke, caressing your hand.

Your father looked at her as if she had committed a crime. She shouldn't have spoken, but she couldn't contain her anymore seeing how you were trembling. Despite your father disapproving glance towards your mother, the wildlings didn't seem taken aback by a woman speaking when she shouldn't.

"Hmm..." the wildling said, looking at you and your dark dress again. "I guess she's not bad. Men!" he shouted turning towards his men and women. "Let the dinner begin!"

Everyone cheered loudly at that, raising his glasses of beer in the air and then drinking avidly.

Your father simply stood there as if it wasn't his own castle, and you did too, observing how your future husband ignored you and returned to his loud celebration.

You stood there for the next four days that the wildlings were in Greyria. Observing how your betrothed ignored you, drank too much beer and flirted with other women. You felt relieved that his attention wasn't on you, but you felt insignificant too, as if you didn't even exist.

At some point you wished you would depart soon, so you wouldn't have to see your father looking like a puppet in his own castle. So you wouldn't have to see the fear in the servants eyes as they served the wildlings. So you wouldn't have to hear the rushed words of the maids as they dressed you each night for dinner - speaking about how beautiful your future husband was but how rude and uncouth he seemed to be. So you wouldn't have to see the pity and sadness in your mother and sister's eyes. So you wouldn't have to see yourself in the mirror each day and remember how miserable you were and were going to be.

It was probably the reason why the day of your departure, you weren't that sad at all. You would spend nearly two weeks on their ship until you arrived to their lands. You would be able to finally see the sea from up close, feel the sea breeze on your skin and forget about it all.

"Take care honey," your mother said, her dress waving with the wind of the coast. Her hands covered your cheeks that had previously been stained with hot tears. She placed a soft kiss on your forehead and you closed your eyes, wanting to feel her warmth forever. She then, hugged you. "Don't let that man do things to you that you don't want, don't let him mistreat you. You were born like a princess, the Princess of Greyria, and you will forever be. Don't forget that, don't forget who you are," she whispered in your ear so no one could hear her. "You are a strong woman, let him see that."

When she broke the hug, she had tears running down her cheeks. You simply nodded, because you weren't so sure you would be able to take care of yourself that much.

Saying goodbye to your sisters wasn't as difficult as saying goodbye to your mother. You loved them, but not as much as you loved your mother. She had always been there for you, as a friend, as a confident, as a mother and as a queen. They all said you were just like her, and at some point, they were right.

"We are going to miss you so much," your father said, hugging you too. You didn't hug him back, feeling like he had been the one who had betrayed you, like he had been the one to serve you on a silver plate for the wildlings.

A few men took your few belongings inside the ship while you said goodbye to your family. In that moment a lot of thought echoed through your mind. Would you see them again? Would you return to Greyria? How would you new home be? Would it be cold? Or would it be warm like your bedroom in the castle? But you knew, only time could answer your questions.

Placing the first foot on the deck of the enormous ship made you feel like you were already far from home. And placing the second one made you realise that, indeed, you had already been far from home for a long time.

As the rest of Taehyung's men got on board, you observed the ship. It was made of a dark material that you supposed was wood. Its deck was big and spacious, a few rows of seats placed on each side next to a few oars. The bow of the ship ended in what seemed to be the head of a reptile, his eyes coloured yellow. The reptile's head went upwards until it bent at the end of its neck, adding a threatening look to the whole ship.

"Everyone to their posts!" you heard the deep voice of Taehyung shouting once everyone had boarded the ship.

At his words, every men and women started raising anchor and tying the sails to their masts. Some of them took their seats on the benches placed next to the oars. They held the oars and stood still, waiting for the orders of their leader.

Taehyung was walking through the deck, observing everyone doing their tasks and making sure they were doing it right. You couldn't tore your eyes away from him, you somehow felt attracted to him, to his lean figure and how he walked imposingly, his furred clothes making him appear bigger and more dangerous - just like the severe look on his face. His chestnut bangs were always falling down his eyes, almost covering them completely. And at the same time, you felt a bit of fear each time you looked at him.

You wondered how a man like him, not as muscular or rude as the rest of the wildlings, could be their leader.

"Move aside, " his deep voice demanded suddenly from your back, making you move away immediately to let him pass. He didn't even look at you as he passed you, concentrated on his task.

Those were the first words he had said directly to you.

You walked towards the railing of the ship and gripped it strongly with both hands, afraid you would fall from the boat.

They day was cloudy, no sight of the blue sky or the sun. The sea looked darker than ever, almost black, making your stomach churn. It was going to be a long trip.

"Everybody!" Taehyung shouted again, this time he was followed by the men that was always by his side. He was the same man you had seen by his side too the first time you had seen them both, the one with the dark hair and blue eyes. "Move!"

The men and women that were grasping the oars started moving, and the ship with them. You tightened your grip over the railing as you saw the waves that were starting to form under the ship.

You looked towards the coast then, where your family was. You could barely distinguish them in between the guards and the maids. Then, your eyes travelled through the cliffs and coast of Greyria, your home. The castle could be seen from there, high up above one of the cliffs. It looked darker than ever under the cloudy sky, just like the few fields that could be seen and the rocks that bordered your kingdom. You guessed, it all looked darker that day.

Your eyes remained glued to the coast of Greyria until you could no longer distinguish the people at the beach, or the castle on the horizon. Greyria had been your home for eighteen years, but you somehow felt like it wasn't anymore, like you didn't belong there.

Finally, you tore your eyes away from the cliffs of the kingdom that had seen you grow, and instead looked towards the bow of the boat, where Taehyung was looking directly at you.

You swallowed harshly at the intensity of his glance. His brows furrowed and his lips forming a thin line. The wind played with his hair, finally taking it away from his eyes and letting you see their almond shape, they were dark and big, they were fierce.

You kept staring at each other until he broke the contact, returning to his conversation with the man you had learnt was called Gunnar.

"Hello," a feminine voice said a bit harshly from behind you, making your eyes snap back from the two men. When you turned around, you saw a woman looking at you with a bored look in her eyes.

She had blonde hair, falling messily over her shoulders. Some hairs were tied up in some unmade braids here and there. Her icy blue eyes looked at yours, making you feel uncomfortable. Her skin was pale but it seemed to be a bit rough from the wind and the cold. Despite that, she was one of the most beautiful women you had ever seen, tall, board shoulders, harsh glance.

"Unfortunately, I will have to take care of you during the trip," she said, harshly once again. You frowned. Taehyung had set a babysitter for you? Suddenly, you were angry again.

"O...Okay," you stuttered a bit.

She huffed at your response and sent you a mocking glare. "Follow me," she commanded.

You obeyed, looking once more behind you, towards Taehyung. But this time, his eyes were focused on the horizon, his glance distant once again, searching for something you couldn´t see.

. . .

Your cabin was surprisingly spacious and comfortable. It only had a bed and a table with a few chairs, but you didn't need anything else.

You could see the dark sea from a small window in the back of the cabin. It remained open, letting you hear the relaxing noise the waves made as the splashed against the wood of the ship. The salty scent of the sea entered too with the cold wind, making you feel as if you were back in Greyria.

Three days had passed since you had stepped into that ship, since you had been away from the castle, from your family and the rest of the people you loved. And you had spent most of those three days locked in your cabin, looking through the window or just reading some of the books you had brought with you. The only contact you had had with other human beings had been the blonde girl, who brought you breakfast, lunch and dinner every day. But sometimes, you felt a bit caged and you left your cabin to take a walk around the deck. Everyone ignored you, as if you were a ghost dressed in a dark dress. Even Taehyung ignored you, who you had only seen two times since the first day you had stepped into the ship.

You missed your bedroom, your bed and the candle that always accompanied you in your sleepless nights, when you used to read until the sun was up in the sky. You missed the food of the castle's cookers. You missed your cold bathtub and your big library. Your harp and your reading lessons.

On the fourth day of the trip, you were sitting on your bed, reading a book under the dim light of a candle than hung from the wall above you. You were so deep into the story of the book that you didn't notice the change of the weather. The clouds were black instead of grey, the wind had turned aggressive, the waves that collided against the ship, too. They collided with the wood of the ship with so much force, they swung the ship from side to side. Outside, the wildlings fought under the pouring rain to keep the ship afloat.

Only the sound of the door of your cabin colliding harshly against the wall, drew you out of your book.

You lifted your glance up from the pages of the book and found a soaked Taehyung, out of breath and searching frantically around the cabin. He was holding the doorknob strongly and was supporting himself with it. His hair was sticking around his forehead and face, just like his clothes.

"Close that window," he ordered with an authoritarian tone. His voice was as deep as usual, but something in it made you close your book, stand up from the bed and follow his orders immediately without doubting it.

Once you had closed the window you fought against gravity to keep your feet on the floor. You looked at him while hearing the screams coming from the other side of the cabin.

"What's going on?" you muttered, your voice barely a whisper.

"Stay here and keep the door closed so the water can't come in," he ordered, still out of breath. "Don't get out of your cabin, the last thing I need right now is for you to fall into the water and distract my men."

With that, he closed the door with a loud "thud" leaving you there speechless. He had ignored your question and had spoken to you as if you were a kid. That was how he saw you like? Like a kid?

Angrily, you sat on your bed again. But with the wind that had entered when Taehyung opened the door, the flame of the candle had extinguished. You sighed, putting away your book. The only thing you could do was sit there, in the darkness of the cabin, trying to find a position in which the swing of the ship wouldn't make you dizzy.

You could heard the loud voices of the wildlings, running all over the deck, trying to tighten the masts and the sails, and trying to keep control on the oars. But you stood up immediately when you heard a loud scream in between the rest of the loud voices. And it was a feminine scream.

Without really thinking about it, you opened the door to your cabin and almost closed it as soon as you had opened it. Outside you could only see chaos. Everyone running, shouting, doing something. The rain didn't even seem rain, because it was as if something was directly pouring buckets of water from above you.

You didn't know how to swim or how to do anything at all, but you could help instead of sitting in your bed while hearing people scream.

Your head snapped towards the direction where the scream had came from. Immediately you saw a mess of fur fighting against the waves so she or he wouldn't fall into the water. With the dimension of the waves you were sure that not even the best swimmer in the world would make it out alive.

You ran towards the railing and when arrived and saw the mess of blonde hair you knew who she was.

"Help me!" she shouted again.

You looked around you, but no one seemed to hear her. You didn't know what to do, but you weren't going to let her fall.

"I'm here!" you said, raising your voice so she could hear you in between all the noise. "Give me your hand!"

The look in her eyes let you know that, from the moment she saw you, she thought she was going to die. But you wanted to prove her wrong. Maybe you hadn't found yourself in a situation like that, or in any dangerous situation at all, but that gave you both the benefit of the doubt since none of you knew how you would react in such a tense situation.

"It's the only option you have!" you shouted again.

She seemed to doubt before freeing one of his hands from the railing. She grabbed the hand you were offering to her, but there were two inconvenient: both of your hands were slippery from the rain and the water that splashed over the deck, and you weren't strong enough to push her body inside of the boat again.

With a grunt, you tried to grab her hand in between yours, but it slipped from your grasp and suddenly, the blonde girl had fallen into the water. You screamed a loud "no!" when you saw her disappearing amongst the enormous waves.

"Call someone!" she desperately screamed once her head was out of the water.

You looked around you, but everyone was too occupied doing their own things to pay attention to you both. She wouldn't endure much more afloat.

"Think Y/N, think," you murmured to yourself, making the blonde girl's eyes go wide.

"What are you doing there?!" her voice sounded muffled from the water that was trying to sink her. "Call someone!!"

You ignored her, knowing that you had read a situation like that in some of your books. You remembered it, it was one of adventures, pirates and sirens. The main character was trying to save his ship from sinking during a furious storm. One of his men had fallen into the water but he was injured and didn't had enough forces to get into the water and save him. So he used a...

Quickly you ran through the deck searching for a rope. You found one next to some barrel. Looking towards the sea to check that the girl was still out there trying to swim, you pulled out the steel wheel of the barrel and grabbed the rope.

Running towards the railing again, you tied the rope to the wheel and checked it was secured. It was a knot the equerry used to tame the horses and he had taught you how to do it. You hoped it would be enough.

"Grab the wheel!" you shouted, throwing the wheel into the water, close to the girl's body. She grabbed it with both of her hands, fighting against the waves.

You hadn't even looked around you to see if you had something with which you could make a hoist. The railing would work since it was placed too low for the girl to get into the ship without needing strength - one she hadn't any more. But like a ray of sunlight, you saw a mast hanging above your head.

"Don't let go!" you screamed again, observing how the girl wasn't swimming so fast anymore. She was starting to drown. "Hold onto the wheel!"

Quickly, you threw the rope into the air and cried from happiness when the rope circled the mast just the way you wanted.

"Hold onto it!" you repeated, making sure to raise your voice enough so she could hear you.

You could see her nodding softly, letting you know that she had understood what you were instructing her to do.

Without letting one more second pass, you grabbed the rope tightly from the other side and backed away pulling with force. The hoist worked, the rope swirling around the mast and hoisting up the blonde girl from the sea. You pulled some more, you had to use your strength - barely existent - but not as much strength as if you pulled from the rope directly. One of the many benefits of the hoist and reading books.

You were happy to see that the girl was finally free from the angry sea and its waves and you loosened the rope a bit, letting her fall onto the deck.

You let the rope fall freely onto the deck and ran towards her.

"Are you alright?" you asked, helping her get on her feet.

She looked at you, a speechless expression on her face.

"Y... Yeah," she stuttered, looking flabbergasted.

Suddenly you heard a deep voice from behind you.

"What are you doing out here!" the voice sounded angry and peculiarly loud amongst all the noise. You didn't even have to turn around to knew who he was.

But you did, and when you turned around you were face to face with the angriest man you had ever seen. Water dripping down his nose and forehead. Taehyung was furious.

"I told you not to get out of your fucking cabin!" he screamed, making you flinch.

But a pair of hands grabbed his cloak and took him away from you.

"She saved my life!" the blonde girl screamed into his face, making you fear for her life. If a woman shouted to a man that way in Greyria, she would be running away from him immediately. "She saved my damn life!"

Hearing her words, Taehyung looked at you, flabbergasted too. But just for a moment, because immediately he composed himself again.

"She heard me and ran to save my life while you and the rest were too busy to hear me!" she continued. "I'm here because of her and I owe her my life! I would have drowned, but I'm here! I won't let you speak, or scream to her like that."

The last words, she said them through clenched teeth, making her look as dangerous as the reptile that adorned the boat.

Taehyung looked at you for a last time before shoving the girl away.

"Well, now obey me for once and lock yourself in your cabin," he hissed, hitting your shoulder with his as he passed you.

You widened your eyes. How dared he speak to you like that... You were about to run after him to punch him in the face - you blamed the adrenaline of saving the girl's life for your sudden bravery - but a pair of hands stopped you from doing so.

"I think you should do what he says!" the girl said, still raising her voice since the storm hadn't eased off yet.

. . .

Not even dry clothes and the comfort of your own cabin brightened up your mood, and neither did seeing the sun high up in the sky again after the storm.

Your book remained untouched, just like the rest of the books you had brought. You hadn't even woken up from the bed to open the small window of the cabin again. All because you were angry. Fuming even.

No one had ever spoken to you like that, or even shoved you. Unless Taehyung. Your soon to be husband. He had dared swear towards you, he had dared push your shoulder as he passed by your side. He had dared treat you like you weren't worth anything. Thinking that it would be like that for the rest of your days made you want to jump off the ship and drown.

You had even locked the door of your cabin from inside so no one could enter. You wanted to be on your own, drowning in your own sorrow.

That's why, the following day after the storm had subsided, the person that was knocking on your door couldn't enter. You ignored the knocks and the twists of the doorknob.

"Y/N, please open," a feminine voice. "I'm bringing your lunch."

You huffed, you weren't hungry, but since the person at the other side of the door wasn't Taehyung, you didn't mind opening the door.

The blonde girl you had saved from drowning was there, a wooden bowl full of something that seemed soup. Unlike other times she had brought you food before, she seemed friendly that day, making you frown.

Under the sunlight, she looked younger, nearly your age, and you wondered how old everyone was in that ship.

"I wanted to thank you for saving me yesterday," she said, handing you the bowl of soup and smiling a bit. You had never seen her smiling, but it was a sincere smile, and you let her into your cabin, closing the door behind your back.

"Okay..." you mumbled, a bit confused by her sudden friendly behaviour towards you.

"I think we started off on the wrong foot," she said, turning around so she was facing you. "I'm Sigrid."

You didn't know what to say as she stood silent, waiting for your answer.

"Y/N," you simply said, feeling stupid for "introducing" you, when she obviously knew your name.

"I never apologise, but I feel like I should. I underestimated you, and everyone did. But you saved me," she said, a smile growing on her lips. "And you were brave enough to put your life on risk for mine."

"You would have done the same," you shyly said, anger being replaced by pride. Pride, because for the first time in your life you didn't feel helpless.

"I'm not so sure..." she doubted a bit. "After all I don't know you."

You shrugged, not even knowing yourself why you had ran to save her life when she had been nothing but rude towards you.

"Is Taehyung always like that?" you suddenly asked, feeling like you could speak with Sigrid. In the end, you had saved her life and she owed you one. Maybe being your "friend" there could be the payment for your heroic actions.

"Like what?" she asked, a bit confused by your sudden change of topic.

"Rude, serious, impolite, disagreeable..." you began saying. You eventually shut yourself up, because if not, the list of things Taehyung was like would have never ended.

"Oh," she laughed a bit, taking a seat on the chair that was next to the table. "He's like that most of the time, but sometimes he's not."

"And when is he not an assh-" you began saying, interrupting yourself before you could insult her leader in front of her. "And when is he not like that? Every time the moon aligns with the sun or what?"

She laughed a bit again. "Maybe he will even like you."

You scrunched your nose up in disgust. Of course Taehyung was handsome and you even found him attractive. But liking him - or him liking you - was a complete different thing that wasn't going to happen.

"Why? No, please," you said, your face still showing disgust.

"He will be your husband, it's better if you two have a good relationship. Believe me, if you hate each other, it won't end good for either of you," she said. She spoke as if she knew what she was talking about. You wondered if she was married, or if she had been. "But Taehyung likes independent and strong women, a bit sarcastic too."

"Well, I'm not independent, I have never been, nor am I strong. But I can be a bit sarcastic sometimes," you said.

"What you did yesterday proves that you aren't as dependent and fragile as you think," she said, determination in her voice almost making you believe her words.

"But I'm not as independent and strong as a wildling woman either," you sighed. "Here women can speak, and men listens to what they have to say. You are important amongst men, not me."

Sigrid scoffed a bit, you could read her sarcastic expression. "Yeah, we can speak, but only if what we have to say interest them," she sighed too and looked directly at you. "Listen, there in the north, women are important, we can fight, we can make our own decisions and our words can be very important to men. But we are still women, and we have to be extra careful. And you, you will be Taehyung's wife so everybody will have to respect you and listen to you as if you were a wildling woman."

"Pff," you almost laughed. "Taehyung won't care if I have to say something or not, and neither will the rest of you. That's why I don't get why he wants to marry me, a princess when he has a lot of strong women in the north."

Sigrid seemed to think about your words. Her eyes wandered towards the sea while you waited for an answer.

"I don't want to sound harsh... But he didn't want to marry you or any other princess for that matter," she said, making you flinch for some strange reason.

You didn't want to marry him, so why did it hurt knowing that he didn't want you either in the first place? You ignored the pang in your chest at Sigrid's words and continued listening to her words.

"He only wanted peace," she finally said.

"Peace?" you asked a bit confuse.

"Yeah, peace. Peace in between the wildlings and the continent."

You were astonished. "Why would a wildling want peace with the continent when you had been claiming it as yours for years, even centuries?"

She smiled softly. "You don't know what's going on at the other side of the sea."

It was true, you didn't know. Your continent was big and ancient, but the continent where the wildlings came from was even bigger and more ancient. The only fault it had was its weather; always cold, no grass grew in the meadows, not flowers painted its vast landscape, only pines, mountains and snow. Or at least that's what you had read in books.

"We, wildlings, have no hierarchy, only our leader - who is not more important or valuable than the rest of us - and he or she is who speaks for all of us. Because of that, there has never really been pace amongst the different clans, always fighting for territories," she stopped for a moment. "That, and the difficulties to find food and supplies, makes it harder to survive every day. This has been like that for years, but lately, the fights have been more frequent and the number of deaths amongst the wildling people are increasing. If we continue like this, we will destroy the north and ourselves. The last thing we need right now is a war between us and a war against the continent too."

"But I've never heard about those fights between the wildling people," you said. "I mean, I've always thought you were strong and united."

"That's what we want you to believe so you still fear us," she said, sighing sadly. "We once were, back in the times of Thor the Third, but now we are just as broken as your continent is."

"And why do you keep threatening us?" you asked, raising your voice a bit, feeling as if your sacrifice had been done in vain.

"Our clan, specifically, don't," Sigrid said, her eyes looking at you, making you shift uncomfortably. "But there are other clans who want to fight and conquer the continent. But they can't if Taehyung doesn't want to, since he is the leader, not only of this clan, if not the entire wildling people."

"But you told me that you don't follow any hierarchy," you said.

"And we don't," she shrugged. "But we have our code. If the leader is chosen by the people itself, then he not only represent us, but he gets to decide for our well-being. For the well-being of the entire wildling people. His duty is to safeguard us and our duty is to show our gratitude to him following his orders. That's the code."

"So... He wants peace with the continent because he wants to keep the wildling people united first?" you asked, wanting to know if you had understood everything.

"Yes, he thinks that he has to solve the wildling people's problems first before starting a new war," she said. "I follow him and his orders because I think he's right. Like I said, his duty as our leader is to safeguard us, and I think he's doing the right thing. Obviously not everybody thinks the same, and there are a lot of clans who are now against him for getting engaged with a southern princess and proclaiming peace with the continent."

"And won't he start a new war against his own people for it?" you asked.

"It can't be worst than it already is," she said. "I mean, every clan is already in war against each other, what could be worse than that?"

"But I still don't get why marrying me is the solution to all your problems," you said, sounding a bit harsh. "He has ruined my life in exchange of your well-being. He cares about his people, but who will care about me? You speak of him as if he was the best of men, and yet he treats me like a slave."

She looked at you as if she was searching for a good answer. When she sighed, she started speaking. "Look, living in the north isn't easy, you have to be tough to survive. And even if you are not, you end up being cold and harsh, the land and the people makes you be. I guess that's what happened to Taehyung. I've known him since he was born-"

"Wait, you're older than him?" you said, too curious to care if you offended her for interrupting her or not.

"Yeah," she said, a small smile playing on her lips. "Only five years older."

"But how old is he?" you wondered, more to yourself than anything, but somehow the words slipped past your lips.

"Twenty two," she said, almost making you gasp.

"And he is already a leader?" you asked rhetorically.

"Mhmm," she nodded. "He was chosen by the majority of the clan when he was seventeen and since then he has been a good leader."

"Seventeen?!" you exclaimed again. "He was so young..."

"He was," she smiled. You observed it was a sad smile, one of those smiles that remind you of yourself and your kingdom, of your family. A nostalgic smile. "You asked if he has always been like that, harsh and cold. Well, he hasn't. Like I said, if you don't adapt to the north and become strong, you don't survive. Taehyung was a bright and playful kid, always curious and even more curious if it was about stars and constellations, don't ask why. He always asked random things and wanted to learn about everything and everyone. But at the same time, he was weak and fragile, didn't know how to fight, or hunt or fish. We all loved him, but we all thought he wouldn't make it."

"His parents died in an hunting accident when he was just a baby, and his grandmother was the one who took care of him and raised him. She was the Voice of our clan, the one who spoke with the Gods and the one who taught Taehyung everything he knows about Them and the Constellations. He loved her above everything and everyone - she was the only thing he ever had - and that's why, when she was killed by other clan who tried to take our lands, he never went back to being the same. You adapt or you die, and he adapted. The bright, playful and curious kid disappeared, just like him for a couple of years after his grandmother's death. No one knows what happened in those two years he was missing, but when he came back, he was the Taehyung we all know today, our strong leader. Later, he told us he went searching for the men that had killed her grandmother and had killed them too. He told us how he killed them as if he was telling us a tale."

When she stopped speaking, you took a moment to think about what she had told you. Taehyung wasn't a bad person, he only had had to live bad circumstances that made him the way he was.

"Doesn't he ever gets tired of being someone he isn't?" you asked.

Sigrid shrugged, standing up from her chair. "No, because that's how he is now. The rest is just his past. Sometimes, if he's having a good day, he can be a bit light-hearted. But don't form a wrong image in your head of how he is because of what I've told you, that way you will end up falling in love with a ghost."

"I'm not going to fall in love with him," you said quickly. You weren't sure of where you would wake up the next day, or where you would be in the following month, but you were sure of one thing: you wouldn't fall in love with Kim Taehyung, no.

"Yeah, sure," Sigrid said, a smirk on her lips. "Now eat and don't ever say that I told you that."

With that, she left you in your cabin, in front of a bowl filled with soup and a mind filled with questions.

. . .

You reached land two days after your first conversation with Sigrid. First, because after it, you had had many more conversations. She would bring you food and you would speak about the north, or about Greyria while you ate.

After getting off the ship, followed by Sigrid and other men and women, you started to realise that there was no way back home. That, that cold land, would be your home now.

The wind was cold and strong, making you shiver and wish you had some fur clothes like they all had. The freezing breeze hit your skin as if it was a thousand knifes and you wondered if it was like that all year long.

"Here we are," Sigrid said, appearing by your side with a wooden box in her arms. "Home."

You looked all around you in search for a castle or some sort of house, but only forest greeted your sight.

"Don't you live in a castle or something like that?" you finally asked.

"A castle?" she asked, bursting into laughter. You looked at her confused, trying to remember if something you had said had been funny. When she saw you had asked that question seriously, she stopped laughing. "Oh, you were serious about it."

"Yes," you breathed, a bit confused and numbed by the cold.

"Well, no, we don't live in castles..." she said, trying to suppress her laughter. "We live in huts."

"Oh," you said, happy that you wouldn't have to spend the rest of your life in some sort of tent or worst, in a cave. You were going to miss your big and spacious castle, but a hut was better than expected. "And where are the huts then?"

You looked all around you, but still you only saw tall, enormous trees and a cold nothingness.

Sigrid couldn't suppress her laughter anymore and laughed at your ignorance.

"You expect us to live by the coast just like your people do?" she said, starting to walk. You followed her closely, asking if she needed help with the box, to which she refused. "That'd be dumb of us, like asking the other clans to attack us and receive them with open arms. Maybe you and your people think of us as beasts and savages, but we have brains too, and it seems like we give them a better use than you do."

"Greyria has always been placed by the coast and we have never been attacked from there," you said, somehow sensing as if you needed to defend your home. Your old home.

"Right," a deep voice suddenly said from behind you, making you tense and almost stop abruptly as you were walking. "That's why you're here now, aren't you?"

As his last words slipped from his lips, Taehyung passed you walking fast, not even looking at you once. He was carrying some boxes too.

You sighed, narrowing your eyes towards him and hoping he could feel them burn into his skin. "Ugh, I hate him," you murmured, trying to ignore Sigrid's laugh.

You continued walking, this time in complete silence. You observed some of the men stay in the ship and, as soon as all the boxes were carried to land, it disappeared in the vast horizon of the sea. Sigrid told you they kept their ships moving so they couldn't be attacked either and they could keep track of the other clans.

Twenty horses or so, were waiting for you in the border of the forest. They seemed stronger, taller, bigger and tougher than the horses you had back in Greyria. Their legs were thicker, covered with fur. Their manes were long and curly and their fur was long. They were northern horses.

"This is yours," Sigrid said, depositing the box on the floor and petting the neck of a grey horse with black manes. "He is young, but very docile. Do you know how to ride, don't you?"

"Of course," you said, almost feeling offended. Maybe you couldn't fight, or hunt or fish, but you knew how to ride a horse. "What's his name?" you asked, hearing some scoffs behind your back.

Sigrid bit the inside of her cheeks to prevent herself from laughing again.

"Look, I don't know where you think you are-" again, the deep voice said from behind you.

This time, you turned around to face him. He was covered in thick, brown fur. His eyes were narrowed, looking at you while he adjusted the reins of his horse. It was just like yours, but completely white, just like clouds that covered the sky.

"-but here-" he continued speaking. "In the north, we don't live in castles and we don't have huge bedrooms with velvet sheets or golden candles. We don't play the harp or read poetry, and neither do we name our horses because they're just animals. Stop thinking you live in a fairy tale and stop thinking that you are a princess, because you aren't anymore."

Taehyung's voice was filled with despise and venom, making a shiver run down your spine while you felt very small. You felt like a silly kid being reprimanded by her father. But you weren't a little silly kid and neither was your father, he was your future husband, and therefore he owed you some respect.

You wanted to spit back some witty remark, but instead, you stood there, with your head hanging low and your hands balled into fists, covered by your thick cloak.

"Now that you know it-" Taehyung continued. "Mount on your horse and stop talking so much."

Who was he to tell you to shut up? You were fuming, angrier than ever, feeling humiliation in every fibre of your body.

After that, everyone started talking again and that awkward silence disappeared. Everyone started mounting on their respective horses and ignored you again. With red cheeks and shaky hands, you mounted on your horse and waited for Sigrid to do the same.

"Move!" Taehyung's voice echoed through the border of the forest.

He was in the front of the group, and had started to move. You spurred on your horse and glanced in his direction once more. You gasped when you found that he was facing you, his eyes intense on yours.

When your eyes locked with his, in a haste movement, he spurred on his horse and turned around, with his back to you.

After that weird moment, you and the rest of the wildlings started to go through the forest. Everyone was chatting with the person that was on their side, except for Taehyung.

Taking advantage of your position nearly at the back of the group, you observed him. He seemed to be always tense, not lowering his guard even once. He didn't speak with anyone, nor did he listen to anyone's conversation. You realised he was always alone - except for when he was with that wildling that always accompanied him, Esben - and he was alone because he wanted to.

"I told you," Sigrid said. She had seen you looking at Taehyung since you had started walking. You had been observing him with cautious eyes, letting her know that you were analyzing him. "The north makes you tough and rude to survive."

You nodded while still looking at Taehyung, not caring if Sigrid caught you or not. You only hoped that you could somehow survive there without that tough and rude personality.

"I'll name him Grey," you said afterwards, petting your horse on his neck while he walked. "He is grey and his name reminds me of home."

You didn't see the look in Sigrid's eyes, maybe if you had, you would have been worried too.

. . .

After riding on your horse all day, and going through a forest that seemed endless, you finally arrived to their village.

It was well-secured in between the thick vegetation of the forest and a lake in between two mountains. It was nearly as big as the village back in Greyria, but here, the houses were more separated one from another.

A big bonfire was lit in the middle of the village, some women and men cooking in it. There were children too, running towards your group as soon as they saw it.

"Dad!" a small kid screamed happily, running as fast as his short legs allowed him.

You observed the tender scene. His father, a man that had been riding a black horse, dismounted as fast as he saw the kid and waited for him with his arms opened. The kid collided harshly against his father's chest, but he didn't seem to care, for he was laughing when his father lifted him up and twirled him in the air.

You saw more scenes like that as your horse stopped in the middle of the village, right next to Sigrid's.

Your eyes scanned the place in search of Taehyung, and you found him dismounting his horse quietly while he heard a couple of men tell him something. Those men seemed to be guard, since they were carrying spears.

You took a moment to inspect the place. The huts were made of stone, good to contain inside the heat in winter and the cold in summer, and good to endure the storms and snowfalls. More and more people started to leave their small huts, welcoming the men and women that had just arrived.

"Who is she?" you heard someone whisper.

Your eyes followed the place where the voice had came from, and you found a men pointing towards you while holding his two children and speaking to a woman you supposed was his wife.

"It's her," you heard another voice said.

Suddenly, you felt a hundred eyes on you, observing you, analyzing you, judging you.

"She looks too young," some said.

"She looks pale."

"She looks weak."

"She looks plain..."

You couldn't stand it anymore, you were feeling uncomfortable while standing there. Everyone was looking at you, giving their opinions about you without any filter to the person they had next to them. They were speaking about you as if you weren't even there, but you were, and you were feeling offended by their comments. The worst part of it all was when you looked at Taehyung and he was looking at you too, and even seeing how uncomfortable you were in that circumstance, he did nothing.

"Can you show me where my hut is, please?" you asked to Sigrid, who was eyeing you with a worried expression. "I want to get out of here."

"Of course," she nodded before spurring on her horse. "Move," she said to the people so you could both pass.

She lead you through the village in silence, the thousands of words you had heard about your persona still echoing through your mind. Pale, weak, plain, fragile, too young...

"Here it is," Sigrid said, stopping her horse in front of a hut that was almost in the border of the village, right next to the base of the mountain. "Taehyung was supposed to be the one showing you this, but he is occupied I guess."

You hoped off of your horse and took the sack with your few belongings.

"Welcome to your new home," Sigrid said opening the wooden door to the small hut.

You followed her inside. The place was dark, only one window placed in the back of the hut, but it was closed with a small wooden blind.

"This is Taehyung's hut?" you asked.

"Yes," she said, lighting a fire in the middle of the room with a piece of charcoal that was placed by the side of it.

Your eyes adapted to the light and finally you could see the place better. There were no rooms, only an open space with pallet made of fur, blankets and a few cushions. In the centre of the room there was a hole made in the stone so you could make a fire. All over the room were all sorts of minerals and stones, objects made of silver and dreamcatchers.

"He doesn't like anyone to touch his things so..." she said, lowering her voice a bit. "I suggest you only touch the bed and the fire."

You scoffed. "How typical of him... If he doesn't want anyone touching his things, then why doesn't he send me to another hut?"

"I don't know, you will have to ask him," she said, shrugging a bit.

"As if he's going to answer me," you said, stubbornly.

Sigrid rolled her eyes. "Look, it's been a long day and we're both tired. Why don't you ask that to Taehyung and go to sleep?"

You huffed a bit, annoyed by her answer, even though you knew she was right.

"I'll leave you now, I gotta go to my own hut," she said, smiling towards yourself before placing a feet outside the hut.

"See you tomorrow then."

"See you tomorrow," she smiled. Then, she closed the door after her.

You sighed. You were on your own finally, but you had no clue what to do. Sigrid told you, you should not touch anything apart from the bed or the fire, but you were curious about the different objects that surrounded the place.

They all looked like amulets and religious things, even though you didn't think of Taehyung as a religious person.

You left your sack next to the bed and took your cloak off, feeling the fire warming the room.

The pallet wasn't too big, so you wondered how you would sleep in there with Taehyung without touching him. But you shook those thoughts from your mind, you needn't think about that in that moment.

Instead, curiosity got the best of you and you approached the corner of the room that seemed to be the most packed with those minerals.

They were all strategically placed on the floor, on a basket made of wood. They shone with the light of the fire, sending small flashes of light all across the room. Some of the minerals were almost made of stone, matte and plain. But others had all sorts of geometrical figures, made of pure crystal and shone like they were ice.

You grabbed one, a dark blue one that reminded you of the sky. The flames of the fire reflected on its surface making some dots of light appear on it, creating stars. It seemed as if the stars were trapped inside the small mineral.

You had been so absorbed inspecting the minerals and their beauty that you hadn't noticed the door opening and its low "click" when it closed. You didn't notice the cold breeze that had entered in the hut, or the shadow that the fire casted over you. You only noticed you weren't alone in that room when you heard the sound of a throat clearing behind you.

Immediately, you put back the mineral in its place and turned around to see a frowning Taehyung.

"Em... I was... Uh... I was just admiring your collection of minerals, they are beautiful," you said, trying to escape from the awkward situation.

You stood up from your crouched position and stood face to face with him.

"Yeah, admiring," he said in a stern voice. He was angry, again. "The next time I would like it better if you admired them from afar."

You nodded slowly, lowering your gaze. "I didn't know I couldn't touch them," you lied.

"Well, now you know," he said, moving towards the basket where the minerals were and he relocated them neatly in their exact places. After that, he stood up again and started pacing around the room. "If you are going to live here you need to know a couple of things. You can't touch what is mine, and in what is mine I include everything: the minerals, the dreamcatchers, the decorations... Everything is placed carefully in their places, if you touch them, I'll notice."

"Can I even touch the floor?" you sarcastically said in sudden wave of courage. "Because it is yours too, isn't it?"

Immediately you lowered your gaze again, your cheeks flushing red from embarrassment. In that moment you wanted to sew your mouth and never open it again. If Taehyung would have been your father, and your words would have been directed towards him, he would have sent you to your room in the blink of an eye and you would have been locked in there all week. You had learn that at a young age, and since then, you always kept your mouth shut and your gaze down.

Much to your surprise, you heard a low chuckle coming from Taehyung's direction, making you snap your head towards him. As soon as your eyes found his, he stopped smiling and chuckling.

"You can touch the floor," he answered in a dry tone. "And the bed. You can only touch anything that is strictly necessary. But we are going to set some rules if you want to live here."

"I don't want to live here," you mentally though, but kept quiet.

"Number one is to not touch my things as I've just said," he began. "Number two is to not disturb me when I'm sleeping or resting, I hate being bothered. And number three is follow my rules and everything I say. They are simple and if you follow them, we'll live as peacefully as we can."

You couldn't help but roll your eyes. Three rules? What was that? Your father's guard?

"Can I at least breathe whenever I need it?" you sarcastically said again. You didn't knew why you were being so brave, but you couldn't keep your mouth shut.

"If breathing whenever you need it means not breaking any of my rules, then yes," he said.

You scoffed. "Are you always going to treat me as if I were your slave? Because I'm going to be your wife, not your maid."

"Then act like a wife," he scoffed too.

"Then treat me like one," you said, starting to get angrier.

"Then give me reasons so I can treat you like one," he answered back.

"I am a person, isn't that reason enough?" you spat.

"Listen, I'm too tired for this," he said, walking towards the bed and taking a blanket.

You were tired too, but you couldn't let him treat you like shit. What did you had to prove to him for him to treat you like a human being? Nothing, and much less to him.

"Even though Sigrid explained to me why you are going to marry me, I still don't understand it," you sighed. "If you are going to be this unhappy by my side, then you should have married another princess, less fragile and weak."

"I should have," he simply said.

"And you are willing to sacrifice your happiness and mine... For what?" you said, frustration all over you and your words. "For avoiding a war that is bound to happen?"

"I'm willing to sacrifice my happiness and yours for the happiness of my people, that' s what being a leader means," he said, looking at you with such an intensity you almost felt ashamed because of your selfishness. "And I guess that's what being a princess means too, maybe you should think about it a bit."

You laughed without being able of containing yourself. "I find it funny how everyone is willing to sacrifice my happiness. You, my father, my mother..." you sighed. "Everyone but me. I find it funny how everyone is willing to sacrifice my happiness without even asking me how I feel about it. You chose to sacrifice your happiness for your people because it's your happiness and it belongs to no one but you, but I didn't chose about mine."

After your words you saw Taehyung's face softening a bit, making him look younger. His features were soft and delicate, but they hid too much resentment and anger, too much pressure for a boy so young.

"I'll be in the hut next door," he said in a low voice, leaving the hut and closing the door behind him without giving you a chance to say anything else.

You sighed, relieved that you wouldn't have to sleep in the same bed as him, or that you wouldn't have to live in the same hut as him. But you couldn't help but ask yourself why was he going to live in other hut and not you.

Despite lying tense on Taehyung's bed almost all night, you eventually started to drift into sleep. The last thing you remember is Taehyung's expression as you told him you had never had a word in what you wanted or what you didn't want. And it that moment, you wondered if he, like you, had ever really had a word in what he wanted to do or how he wanted to feel.

. . .

Time seemed to pass slower in the north. Maybe it was because of the cold or simply because you had nothing to do but sleep, eat and take some walks around the place, but it was like a torture to you.

Taehyung didn't speak to you and you only saw him in the hut that was used as a dining room.

As you walked around the cold forest, or the dark blue lake, you could feel the nostalgia invading you. You missed the warmth of spring back in Greyria, and how the flowers and fields welcomed it with open arms. You missed the smell of the sea and grass. Winter was gone, and spring had arrived, but the cold you felt inside remained with you.

You had lost count of the days, since it all seemed the same. A constant loop of routine and boredom. You had read all the books you had carried with you at least three times, you had taken so many walks around the place you already knew them better than the palm of your hand. You had missed home more than you wanted to admit, and despite still being angry with your family for exchanging you to a wildling, you would come back to them in a heartbeat.

A specifically warm day of spring you were getting ready for bed when you heard a knock on the door.

"Can I come in?" you heard the voice of Sigrid.

You happily ran towards the door and opened it. She had been your only friend there for the past moths, always supporting you and cheering you up, showing things and protecting you from the comments of the rest of the village. But she had been with Taehyung away in some sort of expedition for a couple of weeks and you had really missed her.

"Sigrid!" you said, before noticing that she wasn't on her own.

Behind her, a group of women you recognised from the clan, were looking at you, as if they were waiting for something. You frowned a bit, not knowing what those women were doing there.

"What's going on?" you asked, confused about the whole situation. Then, you looked at Sigrid again, who was looking at you with a expression you couldn't quite decipher. As you were looking at her, and she was looking at you, you noticed a deep cut on her left cheek. "What happened to you?" you exclaimed.

She didn't answer, she just opened further the door of your hut and entered it without even asking you or giving you a second look. The rest of the women followed Sigrid and suddenly, you found yourself in your doorstep without knowing what to do.

"Can you please answer some of my questions and stop ignoring me?" you asked, a bit offended by the sudden ignorance of your friend towards you. After that, you entered the hut and closed the door behind you.

You observed how the women poured water in the barrel that was used as a bathtub.

"Sigrid, what's going on?" you repeated, your voice more severe than before.

You saw her doubt before finally opening her mouth. "We are here to prepare you."

"Prepare me for what?" you asked. Since you were still a bit surprised by the sudden appearance of Sigrid and the rest of the women, you couldn't process correctly the situation. But when you calmed a bit, you understood it.

"For your wedding," Sigrid said, confirming your worst thoughts.

"What?!" you exclaimed, causing some of the women to look towards you. "What?" you repeated, this time in a softer tone. "My wedding is going to be tonight?"

Sigrid simply nodded, not being able to articulate any other words.

"Why didn't you tell me before? I... This... This is a bit hurried, don't you think?" you said, looking at two women that were approaching you.

"Take off your clothes," one of them said.

"What? No, I need some explanations before!" you said, crossing your arms around your chest.

"Explanations of what?" Sigrid said, suddenly a bit harsh, making you lift your brows in surprise.

"Explanations of how no one told me that my wedding would be tonight," you said, trying to keep calm. "You knew about this before going to that expedition?"

"Yes," she said, trying to keep calm too.

"And why didn't you tell me?" you asked.

"Taehyung told me not to," she finally said.

You scoffed. "Of course he would tell you that, he just wants to make my life a living hell."

"That's not true," Sigrid said, defending her leader and her friend. "He didn't want to tell you because he was afraid that, if you knew, you would try to escape from here while we were away during the expedition."

"I wouldn't have escaped," you sighed. "I have nowhere to go."

The tension of the atmosphere started to dissipate. Sigrid seemed to be relaxing and you... Well, you had no other option, you knew this day would eventually come, you just wished you had had some time to mentally prepare yourself.

"I'm sorry this was so unexpected to you," she said. "But it was for your best."

You simply shrugged and let the women take your clothes off. You got yourself in the barrel and tried to shut your thoughts off as the women cleaned your skin. They were being surprisingly careful with you, their touches delicate and tender.

"How did you hurt your cheek?" you said, observing how a women poured what looked like milk inside the barrel.

"We came across a pack of wolves while we were on our expedition," she said. "They attacked us, but we are all fine."

You nodded, thinking briefly in Taehyung. Was we hurt too? Why did you even care if he was hurt or not?

You had never heard about a wildling's wedding, so you didn't know if they had any special ritual or if it was just a normal wedding like back in Greyria. There, a wedding would be a huge event, all sort of nobles invited to the main hall were the wedding and the banquet after it would take place. The celebrations would last for almost a week and after that, everyone would send their presents to the new husband and wife.

You stayed still as the women took care of you, washing your body with a mixture of milk and water and brushing it all over your skin with petals of all kind of flowers.

"They are purifying your body for your future husband," Sigrid suddenly explained, seeing how you looked at the women that were washing you. "It is a tradition before a wildling wedding, you have to wash your body, and then your soul, before the ceremony. They use water to wash away the dirt and milk to purify, they use the petals of different flowers to leave your skin soft and leave their scent on your skin."

You nodded, starting to relax with the aroma of the different flowers. That was, until a red-haired girl pushed your head softly downwards. You resisted, looking towards Sigrid as if she could help you.

"Get your head into the water, that way they can wash your hair too," she explained.

You obeyed and let them do what they wanted with you. In the end, the bath relaxed all your muscles, cleaned your skin and made you nearly forgot about your incoming wedding. Nearly.

When they were finished, you got out of the barrel and the red-haired girl wrapped a towel around your body. They dried you and then your hair.

You observed as they walked around the room, getting everything ready to dress you.

"This is a Kjole, a typical wedding dress," Sigrid explained, holding a nude dress. It seemed simple and comfortable. "This belonged to Taehyung's mother, and before her, it belonged to his grandmother. It's typical in here that each family has their own Kjole."

She grabbed it and unfolded it before you so you could fully see it. You touched it delicately. It was soft, made of cotton and silk. It had some silver decorations on the front and the sides. When they put it on, it was a bit heavy despite being simple and comfortable. You wondered if part of that weight you felt was because you knew that it was a really important dress for Taehyung. It adjusted perfectly to your body, surrounding your curves and falling limply below your waist. It was perfect. They finished brushing your hair and leaving it loose, falling freely down your shoulders. They grabbed some locks and styled them in braids, some bigger, some smaller.

When you were ready, you felt as if you couldn't breathe. You, for once weren't wearing a corset or a pompous dress as you used to wear back in Greyria - nor were you wearing the dull clothes you wore there - but still, you felt as if you had something oppressing your ribcage.

Sigrid then lighted some incense in the fire that was lit in the hut. She waved it in the air around you, whispering words in a estrange language to you.

"Now your soul is pure too," she smiled a bit, looking at you while you tried not to cough in the middle of all the incense. "You are ready to take Taehyung as your husband."

With a nod of her head, the women disappeared from the hut and only you, Sigrid and the remaining scent of the incense, remained in the hut.

You observed how she got something out of one of her pockets. It looked like a necklace.

"Here," she said, putting it around your neck. "It is a silver necklace, and this is a moonstone," she said, signalling a small mineral attached to the end of the necklace. "Moonstone is the crystal of the Gods, it is said that each one is unique and has its own aurora borealis trapped inside it."

"Woah, it's beautiful," you gasped, looking at the crystal and spinning it around with your fingers.

"Each one of us is given a crystal the day we are born," she smiled, looking at your necklace. "It though that you should have one since you are one of us now."

You had never been a touchy person, but Sigrid's words made you hug her with all your strength, smiling happily.

"Come on, everybody is waiting for us," she said.

As you walked through the small village you sensed something different. No one was outside their huts, making fires so they could guard their houses at night. You could smell food and hear laughter, you could sense the cheerful atmosphere.

But, instead of going to the centre of the small village, you went deeper into the woods, following the voices and the music of the flutes and guitars. The trees seemed taller, stronger and almost magical.

Finally, you arrived to some sort of clear, only illuminated by a big bonfire made in the middle of the clear, surrounded by people talking and laughing. But as soon as they saw you, all the noise disappeared and they took a step aside so you could walk towards the end of the clear.

Sigrid squeezed your hand gently before letting go of it and disappearing amongst the crowd.

You stood there, cheeks rosy and hesitant eyes that travelled all over the place. All eyes were on you, but this time no one whispered when you passed by their side, or they didn't look at you as if you were their enemy. They simply looked at you, the same way you looked at them.

You where slowly walking, not knowing what to do or where to go. Should you stay there? Should you keep walking? Should you…?

And then you saw him, standing there at the end of the clear, surrounded by people. He was looking at you, eyes severe and face impassible, and even though you wanted to stay impassible too, you couldn’t. Just the fact that his eyes, his attention was on you, made you blush. Just the fact that he was there waiting for you, made your heart beat faster against your ribcage. Just the fact that he was soon going to be your husband… You didn’t exactly know how that made you feel.

You started walking again, your feet carrying you hesitantly, your eyes glued to the ground. As you came closer to Taehyung you saw that he was too dressed in the same colour as you, his clothes completely different to the ones he usually wore. Finally, as you stopped just by his side, you gathered the confidence to look him in the eye. You gasped when you saw the black eyeshadow that surrounded his almond-shaped eyes. The black colour accentuated the darkness of his stare, and the shape of it made his eyes seem even more big and cat-shaped. He was beautiful, and you hated to admit that you had felt attracted to him ever since you saw him for the first time, even knowing that to him you were some sort of prisoner.

“Today we are here as witness of this union,” a woman you hadn’t noticed before said. You looked at her and immediately you knew who she was. She was the Voice of the clan. She had grey hair, dark skin and surprisingly white eyes that made a shiver run down your spine from the first moment you looked at them. She was dressed in the same nude colour and had some sort of accessories as chains, crystals and feathers in her hair and falling down her chest.”Union made by fate and the Gods Themselves.”

Soon, she began speaking in a language you didn’t understand but that you recognised it as the ancient language that was once spoken in Greyria and the rest of the continent. Taehyung looked at the Voice and you took advantage of that to look at him. His soft features were glowing under the dim light of the bonfire, his tanned skin looking soft and glowy. You wondered how was the old Taehyung like, the adventurer, curious, childlike and cheerful one.

But you averted your gaze away from Taehyung when you saw the woman take a wooden bowl from behind her. It contained a dark and dense liquid that you didn’t know what it was until she sinked her hand in the bowl and retrained it covered in thick blood. You gasped a bit and Taehyung looked at you before looking at the woman again.

“Let the blood of the young wolf cover your hand,” she said, grabbing Taehyug’s hand and covering it with blood too. “Let it cover your arm, run down your skin and soak in. May it give you the wolf’s strength, its speed, youth and its free spirit. May it gift you its fertility so you, one day, will bring to this world your own blood.”

You then observed how she grabbed the bowl and poured it over Taehyung’s hands. He then, looked at you in the eye, making you lift your gaze from his hands and stare at his fierce eyes. As he grabbed your hands, surprisingly gently, and covered them in the same blood, a shiver run down your spine. Despite the disgusting blood covering your hands and wrists and its smell filling your nostrils, despite the brutality of the act – sharing the cold blood of a dead wolf – you felt the intimacy of it. Maybe because of Taehyung’s touch since he was touching you for the first time, almost caressing your fingers with his as he extended the blood all over your skin, or maybe because of the way he was looking at you, like a wolf would look at his prey. Whatever the reason was, whatever the purpose of that ceremony was, you could feel it.

“Let the blood of the young wolf soak your skin too,” the Voice continued speaking. Her tone was calm and severe, making you listen every word she said. “May it give you strength too, speed, youth and free spirit. May it give you its fertility, so you can bring your own blood to this world.”

Then, she grabbed both of your hands and laced them together with a cloth she took off from her dress. It smelled like ashes and burnt incense.

“May this this union bring peace to our people,” she said, whirling the cloth once. “Strength to our clan,” she whirled the cloth once more, intertwining your fingers. “Welfare and prosperity to our families,” twisting the cloth every time she spoke. “May the Gods bless this union, so your future will shine brighter than their own stars. May them guide you through the right path, so no enemy, no lover, no obstacle, will be able to break you apart. Because from now on, you are his-“ she said, giving the last twist of the cloth around your interlaced hands. “- and he is yours. You are hers, and she is yours.”

Taehyung hand’t stopped looking at you the entire speech and you hadn’t stopped looking at him either. Now, somewhere further away from your interlaced hands and bloody fingers, you feel somewhat connected to him.

The woman then poured some of the ashes of the incense over your still blood-covered hands and said some last words in that language you didn’t understand.

Everyone cheered and clapped loudly, happy that their leader was finally married, happy that he finally had a live-in-partner. Someone to share his happiness and sadness with, someone to share the good and bad, the beautiful and the horrible things in life. When the ceremony ended, Taehyung started walking through the people, towards the village again, and you did the same, since your hands were still interlaced.

As you passed by everyone’s sides, people said their words and wishes of well-being to you and Taehyung. He accepted them happily, smiling and lowering his head. But every time you looked at him – really looked at him – you could see the distant look in his eyes, the melancholic and silent absence. Because after all, he – just like you – was going to share the rest of his life with a person he hadn’t chosen for it.

. . .

The village was full of noise and music. The centre of it had a huge bonfire and surrounding it, people were dancing and having fun, drinking and laughing.

A bit further away from the bonfire were the tables, filled with food and beverages. And there you were, sitting at the table, not having eaten anything and looking at the people with a silly smile on your face, quietly feeling jealous and bitter. Because you were there, with Taehyung by your side, looking just as sad and miserable as you, while they were living their lives, smiling at you and wishing you the best while days ago they had been hating you and ignoring you like the plague.

Since you had nothing else to do than observe, you closed your eyes for a moment and let yourself enjoy the music and the background noise. For a moment, you imagined that you were back in Greyria, in the great hall, sitting next to your beloved husband, a prince you has chosen and a prince that had chosen you. You imagined that the laughter and voices were the ones from the nobles of the Continent, the nobles that had travelled to Greyria to assist to your magnificent wedding. You imagined that the music that was sounding, came from the expert hands of the musicians of Greyria.

But all that magical world disappeared as soon as the music and the noise did too.

As you opened your eyes, you saw almost everyone looking at you and Taehyung, as if they were expecting something to happen. They were all drunk or almost drunk, and suddenly, as soon as they all had stopped dancing and laughing, they began cheering towards you.

You looked towards Sigrid, that had been by your side all night. She leaned into your ear and whispered.

“Now is time for the new couple to retire themselves and go to their hut,” she said, making a shiver run down your spine.

Maybe you were naïve and innocent, but you knew what that meant. You and Taehyung would have to consummate your marriage. In the end, consummating the marriage and bringing his heirs to the world was – amongst bringing peace between the wildlings and the people from the Continent – the only purpose of that union.

You were sure your cheeks were red and that even Taehyung could hear your erratic breaths in between the screams and cheers.

Only when he finally grabbed your hand that was still covered in now dried blood, people stopped claiming so loud, only to start screaming something you couldn’t understand.

“Where are you leading me?” you whispered as Taehyung started dragging you out of that place.

When you began walking through the trees and other bushes that surrounded the village, you started to hear all the laughs and music again.

Your heart was racing so rapidly you were sure you were about to have a heart attack.

“Where are we going?” You asked again when you saw Taehyung passed his hut and was leading you towards the lake.

He was walking slowly, as if he had all the time he wanted, and you followed him closely, your hands still joined together. But despite that, he was impassible, eyes focused on the horizon and face blank.

After trying to get an answer from him for the hundredth time, you stopped dead on your tracks just by the shore of the lake. Why had he brought you there?

“What are we doing here?” You asked, but again, he didn’t answer. “Taehyung can you please ask any of my questions?!” You raised your voice making him finally look at you.

He just tightened his hold on your hand and started walking into the water with you by his side.

“What…?” You began to say. But then, he kneeled, the water soaking his clothes to the waist.

He let go off your hand, only to grab some water in between both of his hands and then let the water fall freely over your own.

You looked at his actions, not being able to say a word.

“It is tradition that the husband cleans the blood from his wife’s hands and that she does the same,” he explained, tenderly brushing his hand against yours and cleaning the blood from your skin. “Not everyone does it, but I think it’s a good thing to do.”

You were still speechless, surprised that he was treating you so tenderly after all. You felt a thousand stars explode inside you with each caress of his fingers against your skin. Your eyes travelled from his hands to his face again and again and your mind was completely numbed.

“Why?” Was the only thing you could say in that moment. You wanted to ask why he thought it was a good thing to do, but he understood other thing.

“Because you don’t want to stay with your hands covered with blood all day, or do you?” He asked. You thought you heard some playfulness in his voice, but you couldn’t be quite sure. “Plus, it represents the way each one of us is going to take care of the other in the future. It is an intimate and… Well, a loving act. While everyone has been witness of our union, now only us and the Gods can see us. That is our way of showing that we love our partner, by taking care of them.”

You nodded slowly, seeing your hands completely clean now. Taehyung’s were pretty clean too, since the water had rinsed some of the blood. Crouching in front of him, you began doing the same, creating a bowl with both of your hands and letting the water fall freely over Taehyung’s hands. He looked at you, an intense look in his eyes that you tried to avoid.

“But… What I wanted to know is… Why you want to do this with me when we obviously don’t feel that way for each other,” you nearly whispered, brushing the dried blood delicately.

“I guess I’ve just wanted to do this all my life, ever since I saw my grandmother do this with a couple,” he smiled sadly, and you saw him smile for the very first time. Despite it being a sad smile, it was beautiful, his full lips forming a boxy smile and showing you his white teeth. “One only gets married once in his life, and if I don’t do this today, when am I going to do it?”

You nodded understandingly, tracing with your own fingers every inch of his. He had beautiful, big hands, bony and long fingers that your own smaller ones, caressed tenderly. He had no more blood in his hands by then, but you didn’t stop tracing patterns over his skin.

“I think it is a beautiful thing to do,” you breathed, not sure if he had heard you or not since you had spoken so low. “Tender and loving and… So sweet.”

He frowned a bit, but you continued speaking. “Back in the Continent, the weddings are so plain and dull, every wedding is the same. And they are so… Formal and… Cold? It’s just that, back there, they don’t show as much feeling for each other, like they don’t care. All women care about are their dresses and how they look, if their dress is more expensive than the dress her cousin wore to her own wedding or if it is bigger and more beautiful. And all men care about is money, lands and heirs,” you explained. “The ceremony is held in a church, the same boring, meaningless words, and then the banquet. Everyone gets drunk, full of food and then… There’s the worst moment for every women… Their wedding night. After that, life is only delivering children into this world and making your husband happy and honoured.”

“And how’s this different from the weddings you have back in the Continent,” Taehyung said, for the first time showing some interest in what you were saying. “Every wedding is the same here too, we do the same with the blood, the words of the Voice… Then everyone gets drunk and… Well, the rest is the same too.”

His face didn’t look blank or impassible, his eyes or his gaze so threatening.

“No, nothing’s the same,” you said. “Here you can choose who you want to marry and who do you want to spend the rest of your life with… Well, you didn’t but you could have. The ceremony, despite being the same, has its meaning. The blood, the words… Everything is meaningful, it makes you feel. And the people are eventually happy for you and your wedding, they get drunk because they are celebrating, not because they don’t have anything better to do. And this… Rinsing the blood from the hands of your partner… It’s just…”

You stopped speaking, suddenly your eyes finding his in the darkness of the night. Both of your eyes shined with the glow of the moon, that reflected its white, pure light all over the lake.

You became very aware in that moment that you both were very close to each other, your noses barely an inch away from each other.

“They hate me… Your people hate me because I’m a foreigner, but they respect me because you told them to do so,” you said, remembering that Sigrid once told you that. “In Greyria they would have already dilapidated me or something. Tonight, they wished me the best and smiled at me despite not wanting me amongst them. They made me feel one of us… And you did too.”

You paused for a moment, letting the silence of the night surround you and Taehyung.

“I don’t think you all are as dangerous and savage as I thought,” you finally said. “I don’t think you are a savage, Taehyung.”

As you whispered his name, you felt a pair of lips colliding against yours. You opened your eyes wide, unsure if what was happening was real. Taehyung was kissing you.

His plump lips barely moved over yours, making you relax and close your eyes. His hands came up to caress both of your cheeks carefully. You could feel the air around you becoming warmer and warmer, until you suddenly forgot about the cold water, or about anything in general. Because you could only feel his lips moving against yours, caressing them softly and letting you feel the softness of them. You reciprocated happily the kiss, somehow feeling that you had been waiting for it for a long time. You started moulding your lips against his softly, being a bit shy about it, and when he felt you relaxing completely against him, your chests touching, he deepened the kiss.

You felt his tongue enter your mouth slowly, dancing against your own in a wet, warm dance. The feeling of his lips against yours was exquisite, but even more exquisite was the way you were feeling. Alive, happy, bubbly on the inside… Warm. Warmth all over your body with each movement of his lips against yours, of his hands against your cheeks.

And you where happy because only you and him where witnesses of that. Well… You, him and the Gods and stars above.

You were still moulding your lips when abruptly he broke the kiss and stood up, splashing water all over you in the process.

You stood there, opening your eyes and looking at him confusedly. He had broken the kiss so abruptly and he was so serious, no trace of that Taehyung that you had seen under the stars just two minutes ago. His eyes were severe again, his face blank.

“Let’s go,” he said, helping you get up. “We are already clean, we don’t have to stay here any longer.”

And once you were out of the water, he let go of your hand as if the contact of your skin against him burnt.

You followed him, your mid even more numb than before, but this time, it was numb because of all the things that were echoing through it. Why had he kissed you in the first place if he was going to break the kiss afterwards? Why did that kiss made you feel so strange? Why did he look like other person when you said you didn’t believe he was a savage? Why did you say that in the first place when you weren’t even sure you didn’t think that?!

You were scared of what would be waiting for you in the hut, if you were being honest. You knew what happened the wedding night. You had heard stories about girls being forced, about others giving up and selling their bodies to their husbands. You had read about that too.

He entered first in the hut, and you followed him. He had never slept there while you had been living in the hut.

He lit a fire in the middle of the room, creating a beautiful atmosphere. Beautiful but tense.

You just stood there, with your back pressed against the door, not knowing what to do.

You observed him, taking off his soaked shoes and taking a towel from the corner of the room. And then, when he approached you, you couldn’t help but flinch and close your eyes.

Did you want to do that with him? You would be lying if you said you hadn’t felt anything when he had kissed you. That you hadn’t felt desire and lust. But after he had broken that kiss so abruptly you didn’t know what to expect from him anymore.

“What are you doing?” You heard his voice say, much nearer than you expected.

When you opened your eyes, he was looking at you with a frown on his beautiful face. You flinched again when his hand touched yours as he was about to hand you the towel.

“Ah, I see...” he said, making you back away a bit more. Not that the door allowed you much. He backed away too, until you couldn’t feel the heat of his body radiating onto yours. “I’m not going to touch you in any way if that’s what you’re worried about.”

You frowned, looking at him as if he suddenly had grown another head. What did he mean with “not touching you in any way”? Was it some sort of way of laughing at you? If you knew one thing about weddings is that men only cared about what happened the wedding night. Did he really hated you, or not liked you, that much that he couldn’t even have sex with you? Not that you wanted, but…

He must had sensed that your mind was racing like crazy, because spoke again. “I’m not going to do anything you don’t want to.”

Again, what did he mean with that? He was speaking to you, but most of the time you didn’t understand what he wanted to tell you.

You stood there, back pressed against the door, until he moved and teared his gaze away from yours. “I’m tired,” he sighed. “It’s been a long day.”

You observed how he began taking off his clothes, starting for the blouse and the leather ornaments.

“What are you doing?” You asked, looking at his toned back with wide open eyes.

His back was muscular, wide, his skin tanned and beautiful, free from any imperfection. He spun his head so he was looking at you. ��I’m changing my clothes,” he simply said before spinning his head once more.

You immediately turned around when you saw him starting to take off his pants. “You told me you wouldn’t do anything I didn’t want to do.”

“And I’m staying true to my words. I’m just changing my clothes because I don’t want to go to bed with wet clothes, or do you?” He said in a mocking tone. You hated it every time one of his damn sentences ended in some sort of rhetoric question.

“I didn’t mean that,” you quickly lied. “Why are you getting ready to go to bed? To… That bed.”

“You can turn around, you aren’t going to see me naked…” he stated.

You hadn’t turned around yet, afraid that if you did, you would caught him without clothes. But hearing his words, you didn’t want to look like a crazy girl that would die if she saw a naked man – which you were – so you turned around, hoping that he was fully clothed.

But he wasn’t. He had only put on a new pair of pants, leaving his torso naked and on fully display for you.

Praying not to gasp or scream at the incredible sight, you opened your mouth to speak. “You didn’t answer my question,” you finally said, cheeks red and eyes trying to avoid the sight of his tanned torso.

“Well, I’m getting ready to go to this bed because is my bed and because I’m tired,” he said, as if he was still laughing at you.

“But… But I sleep there,” you said, tone lowering with each word.

“And I did too until you came here,” an arrogant smile was drawn on his plump lips as he threw himself in the bed without tearing his eyes away from yours, almost as if he was challenging you.

“Well, I don’t want to sleep in the same bed as you, so stay true to your words and find another bed to sleep in, or find me another one,” you said, sounding like a little, obnoxious girl.

“Listen, Princess,” he said, and as soon as the word “princess” left his mouth you felt a slight pang of hurt in your chest. Not because you missed being called it, but because he had said it in such a disgusting tone. “With ‘not doing anything you don’t want to’ I meant that I wasn’t going to force you to have sex with me, because I’m not like that. If a woman has sex with me is because she wants, I don’t force anyone, believe me,” the smile that accompanied it made your blood boil in your veins. “But from now on, I’m going to live with you in this hut and sleep in the same bed as you, unless you want to sleep in the floor.”

He paused for a moment, as if he was waiting for your answer. But you simply looked at him, tying to make him believe that his words didn’t affect you.

“That’s what I thought,” he said after seeing that you weren’t going to say a word. “Here, a wife live with her husband and vise versa. My people want a heir, blood of my blood, and if they have accepted you is because they think you’ll give them one soon. Living in separate huts is not a way of making heirs, so try to keep the fact that we won’t have sex to yourself if you want to keep their liking.”

You were fuming as you walked towards the bed and got into it, not caring if Taehyung was on top of it or not. You pushed your body to the side and got under the covers.

“Do you like sleeping with a wet dress or are you just eager to sleep by my side,” he said, closer to you than you expected, making you shiver.

You simply turned around, facing your back towards him. “None.”

You sensed him getting comfortable on top of the bed, not even pushing the covers over his body. Both of you stayed quiet for a while, you looking towards the fire and he simply looking at the ceiling, arms folded under his head.

The dress was really wet from getting into the lake, and it was really uncomfortable, but you weren’t going to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he made you nervous. That sleeping in the same hut as him, in the same bed as him, made you really nervous.

Minutes passed and you soon began hearing his heavy breaths, so you relaxed a bit. You were trying to find sleep at all costs, but you didn’t want to move in case you would touch him or worst, wake him up.

So you stayed there all night, quietly looking at the fire that dimly lit the hut and tracing the curve of your lips with your index finger as you tried to remember the feeling of his lips against yours.

The next morning when you woke up, Taehyung wasn’t there anymore.

You touched the side of the bed where he had slept, but it was cold, indicating you that he had long gone. You sighed softly while throwing yourself on the bead again. It was early in the morning and after the wedding, no one would be awake, so you wondered where Taehyung had gone.

The following morning that scene repeated itself. Taehyung had appeared in the hut when you were already asleep. He had tried not to wake you up, but he failed when he kicked a bowl with his feet. You, nevertheless, didn’t move, not wanting him to know that you had woken up. Falling asleep when he was there, mere inches from you, had been a difficult task, and even more difficult, since you couldn’t seem to forget how soft his lips felt against you. But when you woke up the next morning, he wasn’t there.

And he wasn’t there when you woke up the following day, and the following, and a month had passed since your wedding and he hadn’t woken up by your side once. Not that you wanted that, but you hated the feeling of the cold sheets on the left side of your bed and the cold feeling that it left in you too.

Taking walks around the lake was your favourite way of distracting yourself during the warm days of spring. Spring was beautiful in the north, not as beautiful as it was in Greyria, but it filled the trees with green leaves and fruits, the bushes with small raspberries and blueberries. The grass grew taller and the flowers brighter. Even the animals seemed to love spring, leaving their hiding places and enjoying the warmth of the breeze.

That day, Sigrid was joining you in one of your morning walks since walking was all you could do there.

“How are you doing?” She asked casually.

You were looking with a small smile on your lips at some ducks that were swimming in the lake.

“I’m doing fine,” you said quietly. Lying had never been one of your strong points. You knew it, and Sigrid knew it too.

“Yeah, sure. Try to smile a bit the next time you say so and maybe I’ll believe you,” she said, making you tear your eyes away from the ducks.

“I’m fine, what do you want me to say?” You answered a bit harshly, not wanting to sound rude.

“You don’t look fine,” she shrugged. “That’s all I’m saying. You take walks around the village or the forest, with your eyes on the horizon. The kids have started to think that you’re a ghost.”

You took a deep breath. Fine. Were you really fine? Physically you were feeling great, you ate well and you slept enough. You walked and breathed fresh air. You were feeling physically fine. But mentally… Were you really fine?

You felt useless and fragile, surrounded by women that could do all sort of things. From cooking and taking care of their houses, to hunting and fighting alongside men. Each time you saw a women carrying a heavy sack of wood or teaching her children how to fish in the lake, you felt weak and small. You didn’t know how to cook, or take care of your hut, or hunt, fish or fight, and you were sure that if you grabbed one of those heavy sacks of wood your arms would fall from your body.

“Is Taehyung treating you well?” She asked again when she heard no answer from you.

“He isn’t treating me at all, which isn’t too bad,” you shrugged.

“What do you mean?” She frowned.

First you felt bad about yourself for not being strong enough, and then… There was Taehyung. It had already been a month since your wedding and he hadn’t tried to have sex with you or initiate anything sexual, and it wasn’t that you wanted, but it was that you felt as if you weren’t enough anything for him either. At first you thought he, at least was attracted to you, but as days passed, you understood that he wasn’t and that somehow… You were. Yes, you were attracted to Taehyung.

Each time his body touched yours in his sleep, or each time you felt his breath on the back of your neck, your body reacted to it all. You felt drawn to him, your heart yearned for his eyes to look at you or for his lips to kiss yours again. You yearned for him.

And what started as hate towards him when you first saw him, had suddenly turned into a weird feeling in your stomach each time you saw him, and a painful pang in your chest every time you saw him leaving the hut of a woman that he claimed to be his friend but that you knew she was his lover.

“What I mean is that we don’t speak or barely even see each other,” you simply said. “We just sleep in the same bed.”

“But you haven’t…” she said, stuttering, as if she was searching for the right words. “He hasn’t… You know.”

“No, we haven’t intimated,” you said in a dull tone.

“Why?” She asked as if it was the weirdest thing in the world that she had heard. You guessed it must have been, since all husbands intimated with their wives.

“Apparently he doesn’t want to do anything that I don’t want to do,” you sighed. “But I’m not that sure of it.”

“He said that?” She asked, or more than asked, she said that to herself, surprised. “Woah, I mean… Maybe he just doesn’t want to have sex.”

“No, I’ve seen him in Olga’s hut plenty of times,” you said in the same dull voice.

“Olga? Hmm…” she said, again, more to herself than to you. “Then, he is an asshole. But I thought you didn’t want anything to do with him? If he doesn’t want to have sex with you, then good for you, isn’t it?”

You wanted to answer yes, but then, you would be lying to her again and to you, and she would be able to see through your lies again. So your silence, answered her question instead.

“Oh, no it isn’t,” she said. She stopped walking, making you stop too, but you tried not to look at her. “You like him!”

Swearing lowly, you felt your cheeks turn red. You tried to hide your face from Sigrid, but she turned around, looking for your eyes and she finally found them. When you looked at her, she had a huge smile in her face.

“It’s not funny,” you said, pouting.

“You like Taehyung!” She raised her voice, making you jump and clasp a hand over her mouth to make her shut up.

“Lower your voice, if someone hears you I’ll kill you,” you threatened.

But she easily escaped from your hand and laughed. “You like Taehyung…” She repeated, this time her voice was barely a whisper. “How? I mean, why?”

“I don’t know,” you said. “Do you think that if I knew the reason why I like him would I still like him?” You saw her frown and backed away a bit. “At first I thought he simply was rude and I hated him. But then you told me his story… And I began seeing how he was with his people, how he treated them and how kind he really is… And the other day I saw him playing with the kids and… Well, the fact that he is really handsome didn’t help either.”

Sigrid laughed a bit, but stopped as soon as she saw your face. You weren’t happy about the whole situation.

The truth was that during all those months before coming to the north, you had made an idea in your head about how your future with Taehyung would be. You would hate him, he would hate you and you would probably live unhappily the rest of your life. Easy, simple. But you hadn’t thought about the possibility of not hating Taehyung, of actually liking him and wanting him to like you. You hadn’t thought that you would be unhappy, but not because you hated him, but because you hated the fact that you didn’t hate him when he definitely disliked you. It was all so complicated and difficult, everything that you hadn’t thought of.

“And what are you going to do?” Sigrid asked, getting you out of your own thoughts. “You can’t keep walking around the place with that miserable look on your face.”

You frowned. She was right, you couldn’t keep walking around the place as if you were a ghost with nowhere to go.

An idea popped in your mind suddenly. “Teach me how to fight, how to defend myself and other people,” you said, your eyes open and full of life again.

Sigrid looked at you as if you were crazy. “Y/N, I can’t teach you how to fight so suddenly, you have to learn the basics first, and get some resistance.”

“I can do it, I know I can,” you said, approaching her, pleading her with your eyes. “Please, I saved you and I still didn’t have any resistance or whatever. Please.”

She looked at you like a mother looks at her children when she’s scolding them. You knew she had other things to do rather than teach you anything. But you wanted to at least try.

Finally, she gave up and sighing, she ended up nodding with her head. “Okay, but I’ll have to tell Taehyung about this.”

“Okay, I don’t mind, he can’t forbid me from doing anything,” you said.

She nodded again and you hugged her quickly and strongly, smiling like crazy. “Thanks Sigrid!! You’ll be my mentor here!”

With that, you started running and jumping around the place, laughing and clapping, happy that you were going to be helpful for the first time in your life.

“What the hell is a mentor?” Sigrid asked to herself as she observed you becoming crazy with a frown in her face.

. . .

Summer wasn’t as warm in the north as it was back in Greyria, but it was even more bright and full of life. Not only you could see that in the forest, in the nature and the animals that lived in it – you could see it in the village and its people too. You still had to dress with furred clothes and cloaks, but thinner than the ones you wore in winter.

The kids spent their days playing in the forest. You saw girls playing with a ball with the boys and boys playing moms and dads with the girls. Almost every night, there was a bonfire in the centre of the village and people surrounded it, sharing their drinks and food with each other, telling stories and laughing with each other. They acted normal around you, as if you were one of them, offering you their food and seats around the bonfire. By day, people hunted in the forest or fished the lake happily.

Summer in the north wasn’t warm, but the feeling of it was, leaving a soft, cozy feeling all over your skin.

Sigrid kept her word and taught you how to fight, hunt and even fish. She spent half spring and the entire summer doing it, but by the beginning of autumn you had already been able to hunt a razorback and had almost won Sigrid in one of your training fights.

It was really hard, becoming strong when you had always had another person being strong for you. You had been used to your harp, reading or horse riding lessons, but you had never been used to running or swimming or anything involving physical effort at all.

“Raise your bow a bit,” Sigrid commanded while you pointed towards the bullseye. You obeyed, adjusting the bow a bit upwards. “Like that. Now tense the cord, but hold the arrow between your fingers and the cord.”

You did as she said. You had heard those words a thousand times, but you always obeyed. In the end, it was what you had always been the best at – obeying orders.

Tensing the cord, you closed your right eye, focusing the other one on the bullseye. You took a deep breath as Sigrid had told you to do. Then, you left the air out as you let go of the cord and the arrow with it.

With a low thud, the arrow collided against the bullseye hitting the centre.

“Gods,” you heard Sigrid whisper.

You squealed a bit, clapping happily around the place. You were good with the bow, way better than with the axe or the sword since you didn’t have that much strength. You were patient, calm and you kept a cold head in tense situations.

“I did it!” You laughed happily.

“Yeah!” Sigrid said, still astonished about what you had just done. “I shouldn’t have taught you so well, now you’re better than me.”

“No, I’m not,” you said, grabbing the arrow from the bullseye and put it away with the rest. “Okay, maybe I am,” you ended up teasing her.

In between laughter and jokes you returned to your hut. Sun was long gone and it was starting to turn cold when you arrived to your hut.

Summer had ended and with it, summer nights of laughs around the bonfire. You were afraid that you would turn sad again with the arrival of autumn and its cold nights and days. But now you could hunt, fish and help do other things as help to prepare for the winter.

But both of you stopped dead on your tracks as you arrived to your hut. Usually Taehyung didn’t arrive till later, and no one was there, but you could clearly hear the voices coming from the inside and see the light from under the front door.

You looked at each other cautiously and kept quiet as Sigrid put her index finger over her lips to tell you to keep quiet. You nodded and leaned over the door, trying to hear something.

You were afraid that Taehyung would be in there with a woman. You knew he slept with other women of the clan, but he had never slept with them in your hut. But the voices inside were the voices of two men speaking inside, both male.

“… heard that they’ll arrive soon,” you heard one of the voices say.

“And winter will arrive soon too, we need to prepare ourselves for it,” you heard a deeper voice say. Taehyung’s voice.

You looked at Sigrid.

“Taehyung they are going to arrive sooner than winter!” the other man seemed frustrated.

“And what do you want me to do, Esben!?” Taehyung said, raising his voice too. He wasn’t really happy either.

“Something! Anything!” Esben said. “For your people. They are all going to get killed if you don’t…”

The voice of Esben trembled a bit at the end. “If I don’t, what?” Taehyung said, almost as if he was challenging his friend. “If I don’t kill first? That’s what you want me to do? Kill everyone before we get killed?”

“I don’t mean it like that,” Esben quickly explained himself. “What I want you to do, and what everyone wants you to do is help your people. Do what’s best for them. You had always done it before, I don’t get why you have problems doing it now.”

“I have no problem with helping my people,” Taehyung explained. “But if starting a war against a continent is your way of solving our problems, then yes, I have a problem with it.”

Esben seemed even more frustrated than Taehyung, because you could hear his heavy boots pacing back and forth around the room.

“They are coming here to kill you, to kill us,” Esben finally said, making you frown. Who? “They heard about your marriage with a Greyrian. They aren’t happy about it and they want you out of the leadership.”

“I am not leaving my people in hands of those murderers,” Taehyung said. You could imagine him, face serious and brows furrowed. Biting his lower lip while playing with his necklace. “There has to be other way, we can speak things and I can make them see what I see, I can make them understand.”

“You have already tried, the Board has made a choice, and their choice is to attack the continent,” Esben said. “This days, speaking is not the way, Taehyung!”

“Speaking has always been the way Esben! We always believed in that, when did you change brother? And I am the leader of that Board and I have never decided that,” you heard the voice of Taehyung becoming lower, which meant that he was getting angrier.

“I changed because our times changed too!” Esben said, well, nearly shouted.

“We were born in the north, in this continent and we had never a problem with it,” Taehyung was speaking through clenched teeth. “We belong here, I belong here. I don’t want to conquer a warm and bigger continent because I’m happy here.”

“Our ancestors were born in the south. They were kicked out of it just because they were different! And what makes the southerns better than us? Nothing. Living in the south is easier, they have better harvest, better stock. Here we barely make it through winter. We have to claim what is ours, just because we were born here doesn’t mean we belong here,” Esben said. “I don’t know about you, brother, but I want to eat freshly baked bread – like the one we ate in Greyria – and grapes, watermelons… I want to swim in the ocean without freezing and I want to know how it feels taking a walk without our heavy cloaks of fur on. I want to live better and I want the same for our people, so sorry if you have a problem with that.”

You heard a long silence and Sigrid and you looked at each other, afraid of what was about to come. But when you heard Taehyung’s voice again, it was soft and calm.

“I know that Esben. I want the kids to know what playing in the forest without the fear of a wolf or a bear appearing is, I want to know how real summer feels too and I want that for our people too. But war is not the way,” Taehyung’s words got to your heart like the arrow you had thrown just some hours before. “If we bring the seven clans together we will be enough to defeat the Greyrians and pass the Old Forest, maybe even arrive to Navia. But then what? Are we going to conquer an entire continent with an army of less than five thousand men and women?”

“We can catch them by surprise,” Esben said, still trying to convince Taehyung.

“Of course, but that won’t be enough. As soon as we step a foot in that continent, word about our arrival will spread like fire, we will make it through the first kingdoms but the southern ones will be waiting for us. People will die, our men and women,” Taehyung continued. “And if we conquer the continent… Then what? Will we kill their people so we can bring our there? Or will we summit them and treat them like slaves? And what if we don’t conquer the continent? They will surely kill us and then, who will come back to the north to take care of our children?”

Another silence. “You still don’t get it. It will happen sooner or later. The other six leaders of the Board are coming for you because you are the only barrier between them and the continent. You can’t fight them all, and when they kill you they’ll attack the continent. What’s the point of dying for a lost cause?”

“That I’ll be dying for my cause,” again, Taehyung was speaking through clenched teeth. “The right cause, what the Gods wants. They provided us with this lands and we have been living here for centuries. It has been difficult, yes, but we have made it. We have survived. I prefer living here, working hard for my food and my own life than living the easy way in another land, far from home.”

“You and your stupid Gods,” Esben spat. “You have to stop believing in those stories that your grandmother told us! The Gods were just normal people like we are. They made mistakes and look where they have led us.”

You heard some noise inside, as if someone had thrown something to the floor after the loud impact of something against the wall.

“Those who you are talking about are your Gods too,” you heard the dangerously low voice of Taehyung. “Do I have to remember you how feverishly you pray those stupid Gods when you need it?”

You heard another loud noise, and some steps after it.

“Get out of my hut,” Taehyung spoke again. “What has happened to you, Esben? You’re not my brother anymore. Who are you? So greedy for war and death… Get out of my hut and my fucking village. You can join the other six members of the board in my place if that’s what you wish so wholeheartedly.”

Seconds later, the door was being opened and a body was stumbling through it.

“You are going to die because of your stupid morals,” he spat, still looking inside the hut. “And your people with you.”

Esben disappeared in the darkness of the forest and Sigrid and you stayed there, unmoving and afraid of what you had heard and what would happen if Taehyung found out you had been hearing.

Sigrid made a sign with her hand and you obeyed, running after her.

When you arrived to the shore of the lake, you were both breathless.

“What did just happened back there?” You gasped, breathing for air. “I thought they were like brothers?”

It was true, if Sigrid hadn’t told you that they weren’t brothers, you would have thought they were, for they were always together. Wherever Taehyung went, there was Esben. You had usually seen them laughing or joking around, so seeing them argue, and argue like that… It was really weird for you.

“They are but…” Sigrid said, frowning with her gaze focused on the water of the lake.

Your teeth started clattering from the cold, but you didn’t mind. You were still thinking about everything you had heard.

“What’s going on, Sigrid?” You asked.

“I think the clans got tired of waiting,” was all she said that night.

A shiver ran down your spine, drums of war and death echoing through your mind.

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